By Lance Tominaga, ESPN Honolulu Web Editor.

Happy Aloha Friday! We’re in a nostalgic mood today, so let’s hop into our time machine and travel back 25 years ago – April 23, 1996 – and see the sports headlines and happenings of the day. It was a pretty eventful one for University of Hawaii basketball fans:

♦ The Rainbow Warrior basketball program landed a commitment from a heralded 6’2, 185-lb. point guard out of Saddleback College. His name? Anthony Carter. Carter averaged 27.4 points per game for Saddleback, leading the California Association of Community Colleges in scoring. One magazine hailed Carter as the best junior college player in the country. “AC,” of course, would have a remarkable two seasons at UH, leading the team in scoring, assists and steals. He teamed with Kalaheo alum Alika Smith to lead Hawaii to two NIT appearances before moving on to the NBA.

♦ The No. 1-ranked UH men’s volleyball team was gearing up for their MPSF Tournament semifinal match against UC Santa Barbara. At the time, the Rainbow Warriors were led by Yuval Katz, Aaron Wilton, Rick Tune, Jason Ring and Naveh Milo. (Note: The Gauchos would upset Hawaii in five sets, shocking the home fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH would later fall to UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.’

♦ Don Doucette resigned as the athletics director and head basketball coach for Chaminade University to accept the head coaching position at Central Missouri State. Doucette was 22-51 in his three seasons with the Silverswords.

♦ In Moscow, Punahou alum Mike Lambert had 17 kills and a pair of aces to lead the U.S. national team to a four-set win over Russia.

♦ In national sports news, despite rumors that new Miami Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson was looking to shake up the franchise and bring in a new QB, the team re-signed Dan Marino to a new three-year, $17.3-million contract.

#          #          #